Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: Movie News

  • ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 3’ Writers Talk Amy Rose and Shadow the Hedgehog

    ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 3’ Writers Talk Amy Rose and Shadow the Hedgehog

    It looks like the screenwriters of Sonic the Hedgehog, Pat Casey and Josh Miller, offered an update on what they are currently working on for the third installment of the Sonic franchise. While they naturally couldn’t give any details away, they did offer an update in regards to their plans for Shadow the Hedgehog at KCC Comic-Con’s Q&A. Many have been highly anticipating their plans for the character since he was first teased in the Sonic the Hedgehog 2‘s post-credit sequence.

    It looks like they don’t have anyone attached yet, or at least no names have been given in regards but Paramount is actively looking for someone. While it doesn’t seem like they’ll keep the original voice from the games like with Tails, they are going down a Knuckles route with a big-name Hollywood actor taking on the role. Keanu Reeves has been a popular choice online that fueled speculation. They also hinted that there are plans to incorporate his Sonic Adventure 2 and even the Shadow the Hedgehog spin-off elements.

    They also played coy on the potential addition of Amy Rose, but something is “in the works,” which further hints that we may get the character’s live-action debut after all. She would make for a great addition and give us a new dynamic with Sonic we probably haven’t seen yet. Miller goes on to highlight that:

    In each new Sonic movie, as long as the people got the appetite for them, we’ll keep adding yet another person from the game universe.

    Josh Miller

    That is not all, as they also hinted that the film is currently eyeing a 2024 release which would potentially would hint at when they start production. They have also hinted that they are aware of a lack of Crush 40 music and it seems they aren’t ruling out the idea of including them in the upcoming threequel.

    Source: KCC Comic-Con via Tail’s Channel

  • ‘Doctor Strange 2’ Concept Art Offers a New Look at Clea’s Full Design

    ‘Doctor Strange 2’ Concept Art Offers a New Look at Clea’s Full Design

    It caught many by surprise when Charlize Theron arrived in Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness’ first post-credit sequence. Not only was it exciting for the actress to join the franchise, but comic fans also finally got introduced to the fan-favorite character of Clea. While her future in the franchise still remains a big question mark, the potential of her having a bigger role moving forward is quite an exciting one.

    Marvel Studios’ Senior Visual Development Illustrator, John Staub, has shared a new piece of concept art that offers a new look at Clea’s final design. There’s a lot of detail that went into adding comic elements into her cape and even pants, though it’s a shame we didn’t get to spend more time with her to get a better look at how the design fully comes together in live-action but it does seem promising for whenever she may return.

    Theron already sold her character with just the short amount of time she had on screen, but it’ll be interesting to see when we might expect her to return. There’s no official confirmation of a third Doctor Strange film yet and with the multiverse falling apart, we may see her return sooner rather than later. With the hints at Incursions, we can expect a lot more multiversal shenanigans moving forward. Clea will also very likely become a cornerstone of how exactly that’ll come together.

    Source: Instagram

  • ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Nabs a CinemaScore of A+

    ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Nabs a CinemaScore of A+

    It’s become somewhat of a tradition to take a look at how films are performing based on their CinemaScore. For those that may not know, it’s an analysis based on viewers that just watched a film that give the latest release a score from A+ to F. Ironically, the rating has been quite frontloaded with most films moving between A+ to B- and a C-rating has commonly been associated with a film not being as well received with general audiences. Top Gun: Maverick has now joined the A+ club, as revealed by CinemaScore.

    As such the film has now beaten the 1986’s score of A and highlights the popularity surrounding this legacy sequel. It also joins Spider-Man: No Way Home with the A+ rating which is a showcase of a general audience pleaser and will likely bode very well for its box office going forward. The CinemaScore generally also helps to get a feeling for how the film’s legs might end up being and where it’ll end its box office run.

    Maverick is already overperforming with a potential $142M Memorial Day weekend which beats out the $100M predictions earlier on. It’ll likely also have a good hold throughout the upcoming weeks as more competition starts entering the market like Jurassic World Dominion. So, it’ll be interesting to see where the film might end up moving forward.

    Source: Twitter, CinemaScore

  • The Rock Confirms ‘Black Adam’ Trailer Release Date

    The Rock Confirms ‘Black Adam’ Trailer Release Date

    The upcoming slate for the DC Extended Universe is quite packed as many major players from the DC Universe are set to arrive in their very own feature films. One of the most exciting upcoming releases is Black Adam, a film that has long been in development, with Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson having been cast in the role for over ten years before. While we haven’t seen a ton from the film yet, it seems that’s all going to change in just a couple of weeks.

    The Rock has taken to Instagram to confirm that the first trailer for Black Adam is set to release on June 8th. The film has been hit with multiple delays, most recently moving from July to October 21st. The first official look at the film back came in February when Warner Brothers released a featurette highlighting the upcoming release of 2022, revealing characters like Atom Smasher, Doctor Fate, Hawkman, and Cyclone, but this first trailer should give us a much better idea of what to expect from the film.

    The Rock has used social media to promote and give fans a look at his films for a while now, kicking things into the next gear for Black Adam. He revealed that throughout filming he would not sit on the character’s throne until he felt he’d earned the right to sit in such a sacred place for the character.

    Black Adam stars Noah Centineo, Aldis Hodge, Sarah Shahi, Quintessa Swindell, and Pierce Brosnan alongside Dwayne Johnson.

    SOURCE: Instagram

  • ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Speeds Towards Record $142M+ Memorial Day Weekend

    ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ Speeds Towards Record $142M+ Memorial Day Weekend

    It looks like Joseph Kosinski is about to make quite the splash in cinemas, as Top Gun: Maverick is on its way to pull in $142.4M over Memorial Day weekend. The 4-day weekend will put the film on its path to beating out the record held by Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End for 15 years ago. Currently, it’ll likely nab $117M over a 3-day period with Friday potentially ending at $50M. That puts it above its initial $100M prediction, but The Numbers does potentially see it also reaching a high of $150M.

    Maverick will now be the second-best opening for Paramount only behind Iron Man 2‘s $128.1M, which also holds the record of the highest opening day since 2010 that the film could overtake if it beats its Friday expectations. This also makes the film Tom Cruise‘s highest-grossing film ever after already pulling in a great $19.3M, which is a new record for Paramount Pictures.

    What makes the Top Gun sequel stand out is that it pulls in an older demographic that has been quite hesitant to return to theaters. Marvel Studios and most modern blockbusters focus on the younger crowd with its four-quadrant approach, Maverick shakes things up in an interesting way to highlight the potential of other non-IP blockbusters finding their footing in the market once again. Diversity further pushes innovation and could also be a

    source: Deadline, Variety, The Numbers

  • ‘Doctor Strange 2’ VFX Team Worked on a 40-Second Scene for Over a Year

    ‘Doctor Strange 2’ VFX Team Worked on a 40-Second Scene for Over a Year

    There are always highly discussed takes on how Marvel Studios handles its VFX and CG work on their films. While some point out aspects that seemingly stick out for some, there’s a lot of work that goes into these projects over the many years of production. In an interview with Variety, VFX artist Alexis Wajsbrot (Framestore VFX) offered some insight into just how long they worked on the various sequences of the film.

    He worked on the iconic 40-second travel through the multiverse, which even included Doctor Strange and America Chavez turning into paint. Wajsbrot started working on the moment back in September of 2020. As such, he worked on the sequence for almost an entire year and a half before it released in theaters.

    Fellow VFX artists Olivier Dumont and Michael Perdew from Luma Pictures worked for several months on the film’s iconic Gargantos sequence. The MCU’s version of Shuma-Gorath was quite a special challenge to tackle as his unique anatomy adds a equally unique challenge.

    When you animate a human and you have two legs, it’s easy. But, when you have eight legs to animate, it’s a challenge. And then you have to animate that in the middle of a street that is very busy with a lot of things that it’s going to interact with. So it’s like, how far do you go in terms of work.

    Olivier Dumont

    They worked on this sequence for six to eight months to bring the creature to life. Perdew highlights that “time is the single most important thing” alongside “having. really clean and clear path.” It looks like they certainly got a lot of time to work on aspects of these sequences, and they also highlight how they had a say in what they would include, as well as received some active feedback and ideas from Kevin Feige.

    Source: Variety

  • SWCA: ‘The Mandalorian’s Volume Was First Used on 2018’s ‘Solo’

    SWCA: ‘The Mandalorian’s Volume Was First Used on 2018’s ‘Solo’

    The Mandalorian was a landmark project that pushed the technology known as The Volume. Instead of using a green screen, they create digital assets put on actual LED screens surrounding the actors and their performance. Since its first use, the technology has evolved quite a bit and even became a staple for big-budget films like The Batman and the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder. Yet, it turns out that the initial version of the technology has its origin back in 2018, as it was used in Solo: A Star Wars Story.

    Our very own Hunter Radesi has shared some insights from a press conference with Ron Howard during the Star Wars Celebration event. There, the director revealed that the technology that would eventually become one of The Mandalorian‘s hallmarks was briefly used in that film. The only difference was that they didn’T use it for a 360° shot but rather just in the Millenium Falcon’s cockpit.

    It seems that they wanted the actors to experience what it was like going into hyperspace while sitting in the cockpit, which was the first use of the Volume within the Star Wars franchise. It definitely is an interesting surprise and it’s crazy to think just how far the technology has come since those days. It’ll also be interesting to see what the future has in store for it as it continues to evolve and potentially become an essential tool for modern filmmaking.

  • ‘Doctor Strange 2’ VFX Artist Confirms Savage Land Easter Egg

    ‘Doctor Strange 2’ VFX Artist Confirms Savage Land Easter Egg

    While Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness kept its word by exploring the multiverse, surprisingly, it held back quite a bit. The main story mainly focused on two dimensions, but we still got a short little romp through the multiverse after Strange catches up with America Chavez. we got a lot of teases of dimensions that we can only speculate on what exactly they mean. Luckily, VFX artist Alexis Wajsbrot of Framestore VFX offered an insight.

    In the interview with Variety, he not only confirms that Kevin Feige actively supported the VFX teams in creating the different dimensions, which they were given complete freedom to explore whatever they could think of. As they pitched their ideas, it turn out that the Marvel Studios CEO was the one that had the idea to include the Savage Lands, the brief second when we see the dinosaur in the multiverse travel.

    One was an Incan statue world, which ended up in the movie because Kevin Feige thought, ‘Well, that could be a great world to put the Living Tribunal in.’ So that world became the Living Tribunal world. We proposed a jungle and Kevin Feige said, ‘Well, it could be cool if it was Savage World.’ It’s a world that exists in the Marvel Universe, so we had to add dinosaurs.  We had to model and texture and render and animate dinosaurs for two seconds, which is extremely not cost-efficient.

    Alexis Wajsbrot

    It definitely was something that comic fans were excited to see, especially as many were wondering when we might actually see it get added at some point to the MCU. It’s been quite the experience to see the many Easter eggs that were included and who knows if we may get a chance to revisit them in a future entry.

    Source: Variety

  • Taika Waititi’s ‘Star Wars’ Film Gets Tentative Release Date

    Taika Waititi’s ‘Star Wars’ Film Gets Tentative Release Date

    As the Star Wars franchise has focused very heavily on the side of streaming with a slew of shows for Disney+, questions have been raised about what’s in store for future theatrical releases for the franchise. Some were under the impression that news about this would be revealed during the Star Wars Celebration panel, but the focus remained solely on upcoming shows. However, fans now have some indication for what Lucasfilm has planned for Star Wars films. 

    In an interview with Total Film, Lucasfilm president Kathleen Kennedy confirmed that the upcoming Taika Waititi-directed film is currently slated to be the next theatrical release for the Star Wars franchise. Lucasfilm is aiming to have the film released in late 2023, but Kennedy made note that nothing was officially locked in during the interview. This marks a change in plans for the Star Wars film slate as the Patty Jenkins-directed Rogue Squadron film was originally slated to release for December 22, 2023. However, the film has been moved to the back burner for some time as the script continues to be written. With all this in mind, fans should still bookmark that date as the potential release for the Waititi film as it moves up the release order slate.

    Taika Waititi currently has Thor: Love and Thunder with Marvel Studios slated to release on July 8, 2023. Beyond that, the popular director should have ample time in 2022 to focus on a potential production for this developing film. There will be many exciting questions to be answered about the nature of this film that will hopefully be revealed in the coming months as we move towards a return of Star Wars to the big screen.

    Source: Total Film

  • ‘Hollywood Stargirl’ Originally Wasn’t Going to Take Place in Los Angeles

    ‘Hollywood Stargirl’ Originally Wasn’t Going to Take Place in Los Angeles

    The title might have you confused as the film is literally called Hollywood Stargirl, yet it turns out that the film wasn’t originally going to film in Los Angeles. The first entry, simply titled Stargirl, explored the valleys and deserty-location of Arizona. Yet, while the sequel ended up bringing the character to Los Angeles, director Julia Hart had other plans for the film.

    In the film’s official press event, the director talked about how they originally were going to film somewhere else but the pandemic ended up changing their plans quite dramatically. Sadly, she doesn’t reveal where the original location was going to be, but it looks like being stuck at home definitely inspired a new direction for the sequel.

    It’s funny, originally we were gonna set it somewhere else and then the pandemic happened. And my husband and co-writer, Jordan Horowitz, and I was gonna go on a trip and go to where we originally were gonna set the movie. And then the pandemic happened and so we were here.

    Julia Hart

    While plans changed, it inspired them to “write a love letter to both LA but also all of the people we missed while we were all stuck at home.” It also worked in their favor, as the sequel is not adapting the Love, Stargirl novel but took its own direction. It gave them more creative freedom on how to tackle the project and create the love letter as a result.